Gaucho Baseball Fails To Hold Lead, Fall 10-9 To Cal Poly

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -
Cal Poly (29-29-1, 14-9 Big West) rallied to score three runs in the ninth, including the game winner on a wild-pitch, to defeat UC Santa Barbara (22-32, 8-15 Big West), 10-9, in Big West Conference action, Saturday afternoon at Baggett Stadium.

In the ninth inning, two bases on balls, two errors and a wild pitch culminated in three Mustang runs, as Cal Poly rallied for the second time in the game.

The Gauchos led 6-1 at one time in the game, but the Mustangs would score five runs in the sixth to tie it at 6-6.

UCSB would retake the lead with back-to-back homers by Josh McCanne (Mammoth, Calif.)and Chris Malec (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) in the seventh, to make it 8-6. McCanne hit his eighth homer of the season on an inside-the-park home run, when the left fielder crashed into the left field wall attempting to make a play on the ball, allowing McCanne to race around the bases without a play at the plate. Malec followed up on the next pitch with his eighth shot on the season, ripping a fastball over the wall in left.

James Dayley (Paul, Idaho) takes the loss for the Gauchos in relief of Kevin Miller (Long Beach, Calif.) who walked the first two batters in the ninth, on nine pitches. UCSB starter Eric Posthumus (Santa Clarita, Calif.), was knocked out of the game in the sixth, after shutting out Cal Poly in his first four innings of work. Posthumus would give up a run in the fifth on a home run by Jason Barringer on the first pitch of the inning, and five more in the sixth before being pulled for Jeremy Sugarman (Malibu, Calif.).

Mike Bille gets the win for the Mustangs, throwing the final 2.2 innings in relief of starter Josh Kougl.

Five Gauchos- Blair Havens (Los Alamitos, Calif.), Ryan Spilborghs (Santa Barbara, Calif.), McCanne, Malec and Taylor Vogt (Burlingame, Calif.), had two hits in the game. Vogt contined to swing a hot bat knocking in three runs in the process.

The Gauchos conclude their season tommorrow with the rubber game of the series with Cal Poly tommorrow at 1:00 p.m., back at Baggett Stadium.